Newsweek has been covering itself in glory recently.
That’s sarcasm, obviously. They've been doing the exact opposite.
We criticized the news magazine this afternoon for its continued engagement in the delusional world of President Hillary Clinton fan fiction. Afterwards, we noticed Newsweek had done something equally embarrassing: They had published a separate report this week suggesting President Trump might be suffering from erectile dysfunction on account of the fact that he takes the hair-loss drug Propecia.
This is a real headline published by a supposedly serious newsroom: “Trump Health Exam: President Still Taking Hair Loss Drug Even After Research Revealed Link to Erectile Dysfunction and Depression.”
This is how the story the story begins: “President Trump’s heavily scrutinized recent health exam revealed that he’s continued to take the hair-loss drug finasteride, even after a succession of new studies showed that it is linked to side effects including chronic erectile dysfunction and depression.”
This is how it ends: “There's no guarantee that Trump is or isn't experiencing finasteride's side effects; just that they're a possibility.”
And all of this from U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson telling reporters Tuesday that the president takes a hair-loss drug.
This isn’t journalism. It’s speculation and gossip. It’s insinuation meant to entice clicks.
I've been tracking Newsweek’s slow and steady decline for some time now, and I'm not alone in noticing that the once-highly valued news journal has been reduced to a scrapheap of slipshod journalism and clickbait headlines.
“What's left of Newsweek is actively making people dumber and less informed and honestly should be unfollowed and shunned for this kind of behavior,” the Wall Street Journal’s Byron Tau noted Thursday.
Even the people at Newsweek are apparently troubled about its sad current state.
“Newsweek was once a premiere media organization and an incredible springboard for young journalists hoping to grow a name for themselves,” one insider reportedly told The Wrap editor Jon Levine. “The company culture has turned the newsroom into a toxic work environment, while the publication has descended into a content farm for last-resort clickbait.”
“There are good journalists at Newsweek, but they’re forced to put their names on stories the news directors know will cause outrage on Twitter,” the source added. “Manufacturing rage for clicks is their current business model, and most people in the company fear imminent layoffs.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
